Star Trek: Lower Decks is back, the first two episodes of S4 have dropped.
I look forward to watching
Apple finally replaced my phone…
And all my tabs are gone.
They’re with all of the left socks and tupperware lids.
I remember a comedian making a joke after the first Voyager mission was launched (I think Voyager). It was going to provide the first close images of Saturns rings and he predicted Scientist would discover the rings were made up of all the socks that disappeared in the drier.
And the Twitter App will no longer allow me to sign on.
Of course THAT may be for my benifit.
With Twitter on the fritz I am looking at Threads. Anybody know about that one?
Do I have to have an instagram account to use it?
I’m hearing that you do need Instagram to have a Threads page.
Were I to get serious about a micro-blogging platform, it would probably be in the Mastodon/BlueSky family.
I have high hopes for Spoutable, but it is only available as a phone app currently. Otherwise I’ll see if any of the other alternatives get enough traction to be viable. But surely, I won’t be on X much longer.
I honestly don’t miss CRT TVs.
Love the old games but happy to play them on LCD screens.
CP: The Past Is A Grotesque Animal — Of Montreal
Doo oo oo
Repeat 3000 times.
The cost of the film and the many, many opportunities to fuck up taking a photo mean I will be sticking to my iPhone:
I’m quite enjoying Baldur’s Gate 3.
The husband has them all naked when in camp. Made for some interesting screen shots when one character laid in top of another. What was not suppose to be overly sexual suddenly became so when they were both without clothes.
I’ve heard you can even swap underwear.
I’m glad we couldn’t do this on any Atari 2600 games.
There weren’t enough bits.
Looking back at the early digital cameras that used disks as storage:
An 8-year-old girl went to her grandfather, who was working in the yard and asked him, “Grampa, what is couple sex?”
The grandfather was surprised that she would ask such a question, but decided that if she’s old enough to ask the question, then she’s old enough to get a straight answer. Steeling himself to leave nothing out, he proceeded to tell her all about human reproduction and the joys and responsibilities of intercourse.
When he finished explaining, the little girl was looking at him with her mouth hanging open, eyes wide in amazement. Seeing the look on her face, the grandfather asked her, “Why did you ask this question, honey?”
The little girl replied, “Grandma says that dinner will be ready in just a couple secs.
The husband is sleeping in this morning
Finally,FINALLY, after reading about it back in 70s in an encyclopaedia of science fiction, I’ve started reading Planet of the Apes by Pierre Boulle.
The English translation of course.
Playing Castles of Burgundy with a friend on line through Board Game Arena today
I came in second on Castles of Burgundy, last at 7 Wonders
So this whole article is invalid and I reject it. (/pithy)
I don’t read enough “high fantasy” to be able to spar with this author on a one-to-one basis. But I really feel like this was an attempt to get a long winded article out of their one statement “Fantasy stories are typically set in the premodern periods, and gunpowder is heavily tied to the advent of modernity”. At least that was why I always assumed there were no guns for the good guys or the bad guys. There just are guns in sword and sorcery.
Back in 1968 the USSR did an animated version of The Little Mermaid that stuck to the plot of the rather sad original story. The English dub has been remastered and is on YouTube :
While doing other stuff, I pressed play on “I Married a Monster From Space” on Kanopy, watched the first half on mute, but actually finished the whole movie.
It’s everything its title advertises. Probably too good for MST3K to properly savage. If you have a tolerance/penchant for 1950s Sci-Fi schlock, then I highly recommend it.
Like It Came from Outer Space, IMAMFOS is one of those rare 50s scifi flicks that is rises above it’s schlock nature.
Last night a piece in our bedroom toilet broke. I guess it’s off to Home Depot this morning to see what’s involved in fixing it
Rhett, I forgot to ask, did you make it to The Sentry Box?
We made it and it was pretty neat. It was indeed a large game store and it had one of the largest selection of games I’ve seen. I’d be curious to see how it compares to Madness games in Dallas. https://madnessgames.com/inside/
Doing some quick measurements using Google Maps, Sentry Box has a footprint of 9,450 SF and Madness 20,000 SF. Granted, Sentry Box is two stories, but at least 60 percent of the first floor is atrium space to the lower level. So if we add an additional 40 percent to 9,450 that would bring us to 13,230 SF. That would mean Madness does actually have more floor space. Funny enough, doing a quick web search brings up both Sentry Box and Madness as being in contention as the largest.
This research paper gets an A+.
However, Sentry Box does not sell comics so that would need to factor in the square footage
Good point.
While the husband is trying to romance Shadowheart, I have a thing for the bad boys so Astarion and I had sex on the weekend
I bought Baldur’s Gate 3 over the weekend. It is pretty funny how you make the characters walk around nude without comment, or at least for the few hours I played. In Fallout 4, if you walked around in your undies your companion was likely to say something like, “do you feel cold?” followed by a laugh.
So someone recommended “Year Zero” by Rob Reid. The premise is about how aliens love earth music, but are bound to comply with our anti-piracy laws, and so have decided to destroy the earth to get around that.
Silly idea, of course, but it seemed like a slam dunk for me. It has its moments, but also a lot of weak. I’m not sure if I’m going to finish.
CP: Past/Present Suite (Andor Ep 3) — Nicholas Britell
I’m not buying Baldur’s Gate 3 or Starfield.
/shrugs
I saw an online article concerning purchasing BG3 or SF based on a single question. “Can you talk to squirrels?” BG3 Yes, SF No, so they recommended BG#.
I have the talk to animals trait. I try to have a conversation with every animal I meet. It’s actually gotten me out of more that one scrap, and I made friends with a baby owlbear
So apparently Ian Fleming hated the style of the designer of this building that he named a bad guy after him:
Wish You Were Here was released 48 years ago today.
This also would have been Neil Peart’s 71st birthday.
There was also a film with the same name in 1987 with Emily Lloyd as an up and coming star. Her mental health problems would later make her miss out on a lot of roles.
Went to the post office today to send a parcel. Their computers were down so I couldn’t sent it. That’s the first time that’s happened. Will need to try again later this week.
I hate going to the dentist. Not because of the dental part. I always feel like they are trying to upsell to me. I don’t have any cavities, but I guess I need to go back next week because an old filling needs to be replaced.
Ah in the UK the filling has to totally fail first before it gets replaced.
100%
I’m still angry that I let those fuckers talk me into removing my wisdom tooth.
Definitely enjoying Ahsoka, but holy crap it’s basically the next season of Rebels. To really get this, you have to have watched a good deal of the Clone Wars and Rebels shows, even more so than the movies.
T Cat, who hasn’t watched the animated series, is able to follow along well enough. But yeah, you get so much more from having watched those series. I’m loving it.
Well this guy who hasn’t watched rebels is still enjoying the show.
/shrugs
But I don’t think you can be objective about anything with Mary Elizabeth Winstead
Well that is true.
I didn’t intend that as a gatekeeping nerd comment. /shrug
But I’m glad that it’s working, even without the knowledge of these character’s histories.
I’ve really enjoyed what BOOM! Studios has been putting out lately. “Blade Runner: Origins” was excellent, and I love “The Many Deaths of Laila Starr”. Imagine if Gaiman was Hindi and wrote a story about Death.
Most importantly,
I now know of the existence of “ heavy metal disk brakes”.
Lots to do this morning.
Why can’t the husband make his own damn appointments?
I might try the post office again while I’m out and about.
Because he knows you will do it for him?
My grasp of USA geography is rather thin. Seeing some disturbing videos of windy weather blowing over trees in North Mesa in Phoenix.
Recent?
We had some storms Monday night, but most of the wind was out east in Mesa. We’re in late monsoon season we expect to see a few trees down this time of year.
CP: She Didn’t Know — The Tragically Hip
Crap joke for the day:
A guy walks into a bookshop and says “I’m looking for a book by Shakespeare”
The shop assistant asks “Which one?”
The guy replies “William”
I sometimes take too long, but I wouldn’t say I need a “Shower runner” (sorry, funny typo).
I may have said this before, but I avoided those books as a youngster because my trusted reading crew all said they were boring AF. I’m semi-curious, but I doubt if I’ll ever get around to them. I might give the show a shot someday. I know it’s been generally well-liked.
We just started season 2 last night. Binged season 1 about a month ago. Was a bit surprised that S1 seemed to get bagged on pretty hard. I thought it was a pretty excellent adaption of Asimov’s concepts.
The stories as written are pretty much unfilm able. The originals in particular started as a collection of short stories where the characters are pretty thin, but the big events that happen ever several decades are the driver of the story.
I read the first book in the 7th grade (?) and loved it. Seems like there was just enough action.
The 2nd book lost me as it was (as I recall) a great deal of thoughtful actions and political maneuvering. As a young kid it lost me but I went back and read it a few years later and appreciated it.
Bored. The husband is at the dentist. I’m in the waiting room as we have errands to run after. It’s been about 45 minutes so far. Got lots of reading done but am now ready to move on
CW: Crossing Delancey
Was in the mood for a 80s romcom
Oppenheimer has become the highest grossing biopic of all time.
Spent the afternoon and evening at Lowell Observatory. Such a cool place.
The air is rather heavy this morning
Modern English has a new single out,
“Long in the Tooth”
On first listen I quite like it. If the latest reincarnation of the band follows this path I think they could make a go of it.
Never heard of this movie, but it’s a great trailer.
Justwatch doesn’t list it as available for (free) streaming.
Another day where the air is heavy. I don’t think it’s actually going to rain though.
Currently doing Nick Cave binge. It’s good, but I feel like with artists like him, you kinda need to be listening to music and words. If it’s just background music, then you’re not getting the full effect.
For those with iOS devices, iOS 17/was released today if your device is not too old.
The iOS update seemed to have gone smoothly
Arrr. Happy International Talk Like a Pirate Day, y’all. Wore my pirate outfit to work again this year. About to listen to a presentation about how my company is involved in philanthropy.
Most excellent!
I’ve decided to push up my nerd glasses and not follow talk like a pirate day. Simply because, only Hollywood pirates said “arr” and, “Avast” and other such things. Real pirates spoke like everybody else in the world. So I guess you might say I talk like a pirate every day.
People don’t quite realize that our entire modern perception of pirates is based on Robert Newton’s Long John Silver in the 1950 Treasure Island. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0043067/
The way he talks, the way he looks, the way he straddles the anti-hero line – – it’s all there.
And without that, might never had the complete joy that is “Muppet Treasure Island”.
I actually had to turn the furnace on yesterday. That’s my start to autumn, no matter when the official day is
Ugh. I hate Alberta. Hubby’s system is NOT in the SOGI program. However, I guess it was brought up at the last school council meeting whether it should look into it. That’s it. Not they should join, but they should look into if it’s right for them. Hubby texted today, 1/3 of his students are absent because of parent protest
Alberta seems to be taking American lunacy for a test drive.
Toured the little one’s school yesterday. Man, things have changed. In every class, the kids were able to sit wherever they want, able to get up when they want, able to just roam. And we watched a brief discussion in a class of 4th-graders where a bunch of kids and the teacher were fully engaged. I’d never seen anything like that outside of TV shows and movies – – I didn’t think it happened in the real world.
That’s great!
Yeah, it’s an interesting thing. My deep 20th century programming says, “You can’t do that, kids will just run wild and won’t listen!” – – and that’s probably true of some class situations, but this just seems like such a better way for kids to learn and go to school every day.
Seeing ads for expensive watches on FB.
It amuses me that my Casio G-Shock due to it’s radio syncing is more accurate than a Rolex.
That sweater is pretty great.
Is the ladies’ version basically a miniskirt with black hose?
CP: Sun Baby — The High Violets
Great song! I loved this and 44 Down from them.
Good Omens 2 completed. I liked it quite a bit! Maybe less than season 1, but close. David Tennant loves to chew that scenery.
In the city
Later I’ll have lunch with my Boo before heading home
The little one is really interested in “Betrayal at House on the Hill,” but – complexity aside – it’s a bit too Horror for her. E.g.: I don’t think she needs to flip a card about a kid beating his friend to death.
Looking at this one as an alternative: https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/146312/ghost-fightin-treasure-hunters
“Popular culture is a place where pity is called compassion, flattery is called love, propaganda is called knowledge, tension is called peace, gossip is called news, and auto-tune is called singing.”
I’m sure I’ve only seen a few of these, but it looks like an interesting list to peruse:
Interesting. I don’t begrudge her at all for working with a pro writer to get this book written. I do agree, though, that the writer’s name should be on the cover, if even as a co-author.
GDI. I completely forgot about the 6 month rule for passports when traveling. This has been a completely shitty month.
Sorry :-/ I was actually unaware of the 6 month rule for passports.
Watched “Air” tonight. I enjoyed it very much. The shoe genius was one of my favorite characters.
I was expecting a train wreck and was pleasantly surprised.
There is a new rule in the European Union that passports can not have a start/expired period greater than ten years. Caught a few people out with passports that had been renewed before the rules changed and had more than 10 years on their passports.
Building the most accurate pendulum clock from a very old design:
To put this in perspective, a modern Rolex will lose more seconds in a week than this clock does over three months.
This would be a little more awkward on your wrist.
Crap joke for the day:
Two young boys walked into a pharmacy one day, picked out a box of tampons and proceeded to the checkout counter.
The pharmacist at the counter asked the older boy, ‘Son, how old are you?’
‘Eight’, the boy replied.
The man continued, ‘Do you know what these are used for?’
The boy replied, ‘Not exactly, but they aren’t for me. They’re for him. He’s my brother. He’s four.”
“Oh, really?” the pharmacist replied with a grin.
“Yes.” the boy said. “We saw on TV that if you use these, you would be able to swim, play tennis and ride a bike. Right now, he can’t do none of those.”
Well after watching the final three episodes of The Witcher I’m left with the feeling of “is that it?”
I hope they didn’t cave. For the sake of all humanity.
Cheekface? Kind of TMBG with a healthy dose of Jonathan Coulton and a spoonful of OK Go.
Hmmm. To me they are Weird Al if he was going for less absurd, hipster and had a less clever JoCo writing for him.
I am a sucker for female bassists though.
The husband went to central office today so left the house a half our later this morning. It’s amazing how even a half hour can mess up my schedule.
Played around with Google Earth VR yesterday morning. It might more aptly be called a Godzilla simulator because your perspective seems to always be from 300 feet up. So this is what Godzilla would see stomping around my neighborhood.
Can you breathe radioactive fire on your most annoying neighbors?
The danger is access.
If people physically own media, they can watch anytime they want and they can share with others.
In the rental days you might be a little at the mercy of the store’s hours and selection but there were often many options.
With streaming, where less than a dozen outlets may be serving an entire country, when one corporate board or even just one guy makes the decision that they don’t want to carry something or maybe even want to get out of the business … that media evaporates with the flick of an off switch.
Exactly this. Also, no one makes a profit or collects data when you spin your DVD at home. Every time a piece of content is streamed, someone make money, and a bunch of database numbers get ticked and sold to advertisers.
Sadly, I don’t think that people care quite enough about the obscure little gems to worry about them disappearing forever. But our current path could lead to a world where only s very limited set of movies are available for anyone to watch. OR – – only certain edits of movies are available for anyone to watch.
Repeat the above statements for music and movies.
I’m tired this morning.
Got the lurgy today, will do a Covid test later, hopefully it’s just a cold.
Sorry 🙁 How many times is this for you now?
Ah bugger.
Third time
Sorry to hear that. 🙁
You’re becoming quite the hoarder, Van!
Einstein proved right again, anti matter responds to gravity the same way as matter, so you know what that means:
It’s creative and has lots of action. . . I do recommend it. . . Young me would have read this in a week and then re-read it. Old me is enjoying it, but struggling.
So some so called Star Wars fans are trying to fat shame Lars Mikkelsen in his playing the live action Thrawn.
I didn’t realize that David McCallum was Ducky on NCIS. It’s a show that Tiffany had binged so much, a few years ago, that I got to know the different characters. He was good.
The thread is here! The new thread is here!
Yah!
Love
Is in the air
Well
My love for autumn
Roll on winter
My love for Balder’s Gate 3 is here.
Surprisingly interesting read on the history of Mad Magazine
https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/648353/mad-magazine-history
Ah, and here we are.
Star Trek: Lower Decks is back, the first two episodes of S4 have dropped.
I look forward to watching
Apple finally replaced my phone…
And all my tabs are gone.
They’re with all of the left socks and tupperware lids.
I remember a comedian making a joke after the first Voyager mission was launched (I think Voyager). It was going to provide the first close images of Saturns rings and he predicted Scientist would discover the rings were made up of all the socks that disappeared in the drier.
And the Twitter App will no longer allow me to sign on.
Of course THAT may be for my benifit.
With Twitter on the fritz I am looking at Threads. Anybody know about that one?
Do I have to have an instagram account to use it?
I’m hearing that you do need Instagram to have a Threads page.
Were I to get serious about a micro-blogging platform, it would probably be in the Mastodon/BlueSky family.
I have high hopes for Spoutable, but it is only available as a phone app currently. Otherwise I’ll see if any of the other alternatives get enough traction to be viable. But surely, I won’t be on X much longer.
I honestly don’t miss CRT TVs.
Love the old games but happy to play them on LCD screens.
CP: The Past Is A Grotesque Animal — Of Montreal
Doo oo oo
Repeat 3000 times.
The cost of the film and the many, many opportunities to fuck up taking a photo mean I will be sticking to my iPhone:
https://youtu.be/3sooI3ZFw_Q?si=TxDdU18vjZgTTn-A
The broken book blurb system:
https://t.co/ex69HxXLpP
Cute:
https://youtu.be/ivB0n0ODF5c?si=xgSuQGMObZ1uu9s8
I’m quite enjoying Baldur’s Gate 3.
The husband has them all naked when in camp. Made for some interesting screen shots when one character laid in top of another. What was not suppose to be overly sexual suddenly became so when they were both without clothes.
I’ve heard you can even swap underwear.
I’m glad we couldn’t do this on any Atari 2600 games.
There weren’t enough bits.
Looking back at the early digital cameras that used disks as storage:
https://youtu.be/4J0Aw2Z-8-k?si=GqylvZjeym1LHHM5
CP: The Boxer — Mumford & Sons feat Jerry Douglas & Paul Simon
A forgotten woman athlete:
https://youtu.be/hTlOUGJoR_8?si=iJrkNRIVrAzQOsLg
Weird Al talks about his biggest songs.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ETyCK9mqhDI
Pure joy.
Crap joke for the day:
An 8-year-old girl went to her grandfather, who was working in the yard and asked him, “Grampa, what is couple sex?”
The grandfather was surprised that she would ask such a question, but decided that if she’s old enough to ask the question, then she’s old enough to get a straight answer. Steeling himself to leave nothing out, he proceeded to tell her all about human reproduction and the joys and responsibilities of intercourse.
When he finished explaining, the little girl was looking at him with her mouth hanging open, eyes wide in amazement. Seeing the look on her face, the grandfather asked her, “Why did you ask this question, honey?”
The little girl replied, “Grandma says that dinner will be ready in just a couple secs.
The husband is sleeping in this morning
Finally,FINALLY, after reading about it back in 70s in an encyclopaedia of science fiction, I’ve started reading Planet of the Apes by Pierre Boulle.
The English translation of course.
Playing Castles of Burgundy with a friend on line through Board Game Arena today
I came in second on Castles of Burgundy, last at 7 Wonders
Interstellar was going to have a darker ending:
https://t.co/u6m5JIG0yd
Why the good guys don’t use guns in fantasy:
https://warfantasy.wordpress.com/2023/08/20/why-fantasy-avoids-gunpowder/
Farmer Giles of Ham used a blunderbuss.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Farmer_Giles_of_Ham
So this whole article is invalid and I reject it. (/pithy)
I don’t read enough “high fantasy” to be able to spar with this author on a one-to-one basis. But I really feel like this was an attempt to get a long winded article out of their one statement “Fantasy stories are typically set in the premodern periods, and gunpowder is heavily tied to the advent of modernity”. At least that was why I always assumed there were no guns for the good guys or the bad guys. There just are guns in sword and sorcery.
Back in 1968 the USSR did an animated version of The Little Mermaid that stuck to the plot of the rather sad original story. The English dub has been remastered and is on YouTube :
https://youtu.be/TFCqmoD–Hc?si=543_a5nL_4ImT8zQ
You don’t know how lucky you are, boy.
Random nerdery report:
While doing other stuff, I pressed play on “I Married a Monster From Space” on Kanopy, watched the first half on mute, but actually finished the whole movie.
It’s everything its title advertises. Probably too good for MST3K to properly savage. If you have a tolerance/penchant for 1950s Sci-Fi schlock, then I highly recommend it.
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0051756/
Like It Came from Outer Space, IMAMFOS is one of those rare 50s scifi flicks that is rises above it’s schlock nature.
Last night a piece in our bedroom toilet broke. I guess it’s off to Home Depot this morning to see what’s involved in fixing it
Rhett, I forgot to ask, did you make it to The Sentry Box?
We made it and it was pretty neat. It was indeed a large game store and it had one of the largest selection of games I’ve seen. I’d be curious to see how it compares to Madness games in Dallas.
https://madnessgames.com/inside/
Doing some quick measurements using Google Maps, Sentry Box has a footprint of 9,450 SF and Madness 20,000 SF. Granted, Sentry Box is two stories, but at least 60 percent of the first floor is atrium space to the lower level. So if we add an additional 40 percent to 9,450 that would bring us to 13,230 SF. That would mean Madness does actually have more floor space. Funny enough, doing a quick web search brings up both Sentry Box and Madness as being in contention as the largest.
This research paper gets an A+.
However, Sentry Box does not sell comics so that would need to factor in the square footage
Good point.
While the husband is trying to romance Shadowheart, I have a thing for the bad boys so Astarion and I had sex on the weekend
I bought Baldur’s Gate 3 over the weekend. It is pretty funny how you make the characters walk around nude without comment, or at least for the few hours I played. In Fallout 4, if you walked around in your undies your companion was likely to say something like, “do you feel cold?” followed by a laugh.
So someone recommended “Year Zero” by Rob Reid. The premise is about how aliens love earth music, but are bound to comply with our anti-piracy laws, and so have decided to destroy the earth to get around that.
Silly idea, of course, but it seemed like a slam dunk for me. It has its moments, but also a lot of weak. I’m not sure if I’m going to finish.
CP: Past/Present Suite (Andor Ep 3) — Nicholas Britell
I’m not buying Baldur’s Gate 3 or Starfield.
/shrugs
I saw an online article concerning purchasing BG3 or SF based on a single question. “Can you talk to squirrels?” BG3 Yes, SF No, so they recommended BG#.
I have the talk to animals trait. I try to have a conversation with every animal I meet. It’s actually gotten me out of more that one scrap, and I made friends with a baby owlbear
So apparently Ian Fleming hated the style of the designer of this building that he named a bad guy after him:
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trellick_Tower
I think I have to agree with Fleming on this one.
Wish You Were Here was released 48 years ago today.
This also would have been Neil Peart’s 71st birthday.
There was also a film with the same name in 1987 with Emily Lloyd as an up and coming star. Her mental health problems would later make her miss out on a lot of roles.
Went to the post office today to send a parcel. Their computers were down so I couldn’t sent it. That’s the first time that’s happened. Will need to try again later this week.
I hate going to the dentist. Not because of the dental part. I always feel like they are trying to upsell to me. I don’t have any cavities, but I guess I need to go back next week because an old filling needs to be replaced.
Ah in the UK the filling has to totally fail first before it gets replaced.
100%
I’m still angry that I let those fuckers talk me into removing my wisdom tooth.
Definitely enjoying Ahsoka, but holy crap it’s basically the next season of Rebels. To really get this, you have to have watched a good deal of the Clone Wars and Rebels shows, even more so than the movies.
T Cat, who hasn’t watched the animated series, is able to follow along well enough. But yeah, you get so much more from having watched those series. I’m loving it.
Well this guy who hasn’t watched rebels is still enjoying the show.
/shrugs
But I don’t think you can be objective about anything with Mary Elizabeth Winstead
Well that is true.
I didn’t intend that as a gatekeeping nerd comment. /shrug
But I’m glad that it’s working, even without the knowledge of these character’s histories.
I’ve really enjoyed what BOOM! Studios has been putting out lately. “Blade Runner: Origins” was excellent, and I love “The Many Deaths of Laila Starr”. Imagine if Gaiman was Hindi and wrote a story about Death.
ZP not too impressed with Star Field:
https://youtu.be/2zqY4d_-VNY?si=Wiu7DBKARR2QwYA4
It’s about not being able to talk to squirrels isn’t it.
Is homework good for children:
https://t.co/798kJack6M
“I’m afraid of deep sea diving.”
“Afraid of sharks?”
“Afraid of lightning strikes.”
“??”
https://dan.org/safety-prevention/diver-safety/case-summaries/lightning-strike-during-line-laying-operation/
Most importantly,
I now know of the existence of “ heavy metal disk brakes”.
Lots to do this morning.
Why can’t the husband make his own damn appointments?
I might try the post office again while I’m out and about.
Because he knows you will do it for him?
My grasp of USA geography is rather thin. Seeing some disturbing videos of windy weather blowing over trees in North Mesa in Phoenix.
Recent?
We had some storms Monday night, but most of the wind was out east in Mesa. We’re in late monsoon season we expect to see a few trees down this time of year.
CP: She Didn’t Know — The Tragically Hip
Crap joke for the day:
A guy walks into a bookshop and says “I’m looking for a book by Shakespeare”
The shop assistant asks “Which one?”
The guy replies “William”
Ah Friday
Nothing stranger than fiction:
https://t.co/usRmddUhn0
Except a stranger. 😛
CP: Everybody’s Got to Learn — First Aid Kit
I need to send an uncomfortable email today. . .
But I’ve been delayed for 6 weeks. All momentum is wrecked. Enough is enough.
Well that is season 2 of Foundation put to bed.
Enjoyed it, the final episode was more a case of exposition over action, but fingers crossed it gets a S3.
The shower runner David Goyer has a blog that includes behind the scenes photos and plot explanations:
https://www.davidsgoyer.com/behind-the-scenes/
There lies spoilers.
I sometimes take too long, but I wouldn’t say I need a “Shower runner” (sorry, funny typo).
I may have said this before, but I avoided those books as a youngster because my trusted reading crew all said they were boring AF. I’m semi-curious, but I doubt if I’ll ever get around to them. I might give the show a shot someday. I know it’s been generally well-liked.
We just started season 2 last night. Binged season 1 about a month ago. Was a bit surprised that S1 seemed to get bagged on pretty hard. I thought it was a pretty excellent adaption of Asimov’s concepts.
The stories as written are pretty much unfilm able. The originals in particular started as a collection of short stories where the characters are pretty thin, but the big events that happen ever several decades are the driver of the story.
I read the first book in the 7th grade (?) and loved it. Seems like there was just enough action.
The 2nd book lost me as it was (as I recall) a great deal of thoughtful actions and political maneuvering. As a young kid it lost me but I went back and read it a few years later and appreciated it.
Bored. The husband is at the dentist. I’m in the waiting room as we have errands to run after. It’s been about 45 minutes so far. Got lots of reading done but am now ready to move on
CW: Crossing Delancey
Was in the mood for a 80s romcom
Oppenheimer has become the highest grossing biopic of all time.
Spent the afternoon and evening at Lowell Observatory. Such a cool place.
The air is rather heavy this morning
Modern English has a new single out,
“Long in the Tooth”
On first listen I quite like it. If the latest reincarnation of the band follows this path I think they could make a go of it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1tWNZT9tz1A Pretty good!
Did you catch my post on the last thread of the killer new OMD song?
Now we just need a new single from A Flock of Seagulls.
Missed the OMD
Must have needs check it out!
Never played a Wizardry game but the first game is getting remastered:
https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2023/09/wizardry-remaster-keeps-apple-ii-vibes-but-adds-graphics-and-modern-graces/
https://www.inverse.com/entertainment/sleep-dealer-2008-movie-retrospective
Never heard of this movie, but it’s a great trailer.
Justwatch doesn’t list it as available for (free) streaming.
Another day where the air is heavy. I don’t think it’s actually going to rain though.
Currently doing Nick Cave binge. It’s good, but I feel like with artists like him, you kinda need to be listening to music and words. If it’s just background music, then you’re not getting the full effect.
CP: Kid On My Shoulders — White Rabbits
One day we’ll laugh about it.
Definitely bookmarking this to read later.
https://lithub.com/why-human-writing-is-worth-defending-in-the-age-of-chatgpt/?utm_source=pocket-newtab-en-us
In response to justaJ0e, here’s the new OMD: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EFpIz0RQU9c
–
And(!) to keep the 80s New Wave thing going, there’s a new Halloweeny Duran Duran song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BpWrSTBP5rg This is just OK to me.
I like that OMD.
As for the D2 … well … the video is great.
For those with iOS devices, iOS 17/was released today if your device is not too old.
The iOS update seemed to have gone smoothly
Arrr. Happy International Talk Like a Pirate Day, y’all. Wore my pirate outfit to work again this year. About to listen to a presentation about how my company is involved in philanthropy.
Most excellent!
I’ve decided to push up my nerd glasses and not follow talk like a pirate day. Simply because, only Hollywood pirates said “arr” and, “Avast” and other such things. Real pirates spoke like everybody else in the world. So I guess you might say I talk like a pirate every day.
People don’t quite realize that our entire modern perception of pirates is based on Robert Newton’s Long John Silver in the 1950 Treasure Island.
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0043067/
The way he talks, the way he looks, the way he straddles the anti-hero line – – it’s all there.
And without that, might never had the complete joy that is “Muppet Treasure Island”.
Some more context. https://time.com/4497168/international-talk-like-pirate-day/
CP: Incinerate — Sonic Youth
I actually had to turn the furnace on yesterday. That’s my start to autumn, no matter when the official day is
Ugh. I hate Alberta. Hubby’s system is NOT in the SOGI program. However, I guess it was brought up at the last school council meeting whether it should look into it. That’s it. Not they should join, but they should look into if it’s right for them. Hubby texted today, 1/3 of his students are absent because of parent protest
https://ab.sogieducation.org/
Alberta seems to be taking American lunacy for a test drive.
Toured the little one’s school yesterday. Man, things have changed. In every class, the kids were able to sit wherever they want, able to get up when they want, able to just roam. And we watched a brief discussion in a class of 4th-graders where a bunch of kids and the teacher were fully engaged. I’d never seen anything like that outside of TV shows and movies – – I didn’t think it happened in the real world.
That’s great!
Yeah, it’s an interesting thing. My deep 20th century programming says, “You can’t do that, kids will just run wild and won’t listen!” – – and that’s probably true of some class situations, but this just seems like such a better way for kids to learn and go to school every day.
Seeing ads for expensive watches on FB.
It amuses me that my Casio G-Shock due to it’s radio syncing is more accurate than a Rolex.
Apparently it’s a big thing today. Who knew?
https://calgary.ctvnews.ca/calgarians-for-and-against-gender-and-sexual-diversity-education-engage-in-protest-1.6569428
Perception Check:
https://youtu.be/ZjlYFWLUDBQ?si=Z8L3K6H0svzd9-3Z
Ok that made me LOL
My first day working at a bank I was fired
Someone asked me to check their balance. So I pushed them over
Checks out.
I hope you at least got them their coat first….
You heard of the old philosophy question? If you replace everything in a ship is it still the ship?
So it appears it’s happening with HMS Victory:
https://www.nmrn.org.uk/hms-victory-conservation-log
The USS Constitution in Fallout 4 might have more original parts in comparison. https://youtu.be/i-gv3RMs82Q?feature=shared
Isn’t this the case with human bodies and cells?
I’m trying to decide if the husband needs an ugly Star Trek Christmas sweater this year.
https://www.justgeek.com/collections/christmas-at-just-geek/products/official-star-trek-trek-the-halls-christmas-jumper-ugly-sweater?variant=32747797938253
Do it!
That sweater is pretty great.
Is the ladies’ version basically a miniskirt with black hose?
CP: Sun Baby — The High Violets
Great song! I loved this and 44 Down from them.
Good Omens 2 completed. I liked it quite a bit! Maybe less than season 1, but close. David Tennant loves to chew that scenery.
In the city
Later I’ll have lunch with my Boo before heading home
The little one is really interested in “Betrayal at House on the Hill,” but – complexity aside – it’s a bit too Horror for her. E.g.: I don’t think she needs to flip a card about a kid beating his friend to death.
Looking at this one as an alternative:
https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/146312/ghost-fightin-treasure-hunters
https://www.amazon.com/Avalon-Hill-Betrayal-Mystery-Official/dp/B083XX769B
OMG that’s perfect. Thanks, Rhett!
Good quote:
https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/588814-popular-culture-is-a-place-where-pity-is-called-compassion
“Popular culture is a place where pity is called compassion, flattery is called love, propaganda is called knowledge, tension is called peace, gossip is called news, and auto-tune is called singing.”
I’m sure I’ve only seen a few of these, but it looks like an interesting list to peruse:
https://slate.com/culture/2023/09/best-stand-alone-episodes-tv-television.html?utm_source=pocket-newtab-en-us
No Fleabag finale.
Pfft!
From the husband:
What do you call an alligator in a vest?
An investigator
Madame! Your coat!
https://www.theguardian.com/books/2023/sep/14/debut-novel-by-millie-bobby-brown-reignites-debate-over-ghostwritten-celebrity-books
Interesting. I don’t begrudge her at all for working with a pro writer to get this book written. I do agree, though, that the writer’s name should be on the cover, if even as a co-author.
GDI. I completely forgot about the 6 month rule for passports when traveling. This has been a completely shitty month.
Sorry :-/ I was actually unaware of the 6 month rule for passports.
Watched “Air” tonight. I enjoyed it very much. The shoe genius was one of my favorite characters.
I was expecting a train wreck and was pleasantly surprised.
There is a new rule in the European Union that passports can not have a start/expired period greater than ten years. Caught a few people out with passports that had been renewed before the rules changed and had more than 10 years on their passports.
Building the most accurate pendulum clock from a very old design:
https://quillandpad.com/2017/07/28/burgess-clock-b-worlds-precise-pendulum-clock-made-250-year-old-design-john-harrison-longitude-prize-winner-inventor-marine-chronometer/
To put this in perspective, a modern Rolex will lose more seconds in a week than this clock does over three months.
This would be a little more awkward on your wrist.
Crap joke for the day:
Two young boys walked into a pharmacy one day, picked out a box of tampons and proceeded to the checkout counter.
The pharmacist at the counter asked the older boy, ‘Son, how old are you?’
‘Eight’, the boy replied.
The man continued, ‘Do you know what these are used for?’
The boy replied, ‘Not exactly, but they aren’t for me. They’re for him. He’s my brother. He’s four.”
“Oh, really?” the pharmacist replied with a grin.
“Yes.” the boy said. “We saw on TV that if you use these, you would be able to swim, play tennis and ride a bike. Right now, he can’t do none of those.”
Well after watching the final three episodes of The Witcher I’m left with the feeling of “is that it?”
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/business/business-news/writers-guild-deal-reached-studios-end-of-strike-1235403981/
I hope they didn’t cave. For the sake of all humanity.
Cheekface? Kind of TMBG with a healthy dose of Jonathan Coulton and a spoonful of OK Go.
Hmmm. To me they are Weird Al if he was going for less absurd, hipster and had a less clever JoCo writing for him.
I am a sucker for female bassists though.
I meant to include a link:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hd53V-wsc9A
This was my introductory sample.
The husband went to central office today so left the house a half our later this morning. It’s amazing how even a half hour can mess up my schedule.
Played around with Google Earth VR yesterday morning. It might more aptly be called a Godzilla simulator because your perspective seems to always be from 300 feet up. So this is what Godzilla would see stomping around my neighborhood.
Can you breathe radioactive fire on your most annoying neighbors?
That’s the most requested enhancement!
The trailer for S7 of Rick and Morty is out:
https://youtu.be/BKYJ5AIOU9I?si=jM4NDbFUFglvn62O
The new voices are pretty good other than Rick sounding much more subdued.
Interview with Martin Scorsese:
https://t.co/k0ncvqStjP
Watched ep1 of Daisy Jones and the Six. Pretty good start. It’s jarring seeing that kid from The Hunger Games so much older.
Goodbye to David Mcallum:
https://wp.me/pc8uak-1lD140
I think I’m going to get my licks trimmed today
*sigh*
licks = locks
I want that to be a thing the kids are saying these days.
I have no idea what it would mean but I want it to become a saying.
That would be so slay.
A UFO incident turns out to be a tragic accident:
https://mysteryinksite.wordpress.com/2016/08/30/the-empty-cockpit-mystery/
It’s Schaffner not Shatner.
If you want to play a word game that is more challenging than Wordle:
If you want to play a word game that is more challenging than Wordle:
https://contexto.me/
I’ve seen this place a bunch of times, but never stopped. I didn’t/don’t think anyone would be impressed.
https://www.azcentral.com/story/travel/arizona/2023/09/25/why-did-bedrock-city-close/70846625007/
Didn’t know it existed. Not feeling the pull to check it out.
Worth a visit for the novelty.
About that SS soldier in the gallery of Canada’s parliament:
https://t.co/4qpWH6an7E
This is a really thorough, well-written dive into all of the relevant facts. Good article.
Agree. Streaming should not be the only only way to access movies, old or new.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/apr/27/rented-dvds-netflix-streaming-movie-fans-cinema-history?utm_source=pocket_collection_story
The danger is access.
If people physically own media, they can watch anytime they want and they can share with others.
In the rental days you might be a little at the mercy of the store’s hours and selection but there were often many options.
With streaming, where less than a dozen outlets may be serving an entire country, when one corporate board or even just one guy makes the decision that they don’t want to carry something or maybe even want to get out of the business … that media evaporates with the flick of an off switch.
Exactly this. Also, no one makes a profit or collects data when you spin your DVD at home. Every time a piece of content is streamed, someone make money, and a bunch of database numbers get ticked and sold to advertisers.
Sadly, I don’t think that people care quite enough about the obscure little gems to worry about them disappearing forever. But our current path could lead to a world where only s very limited set of movies are available for anyone to watch. OR – – only certain edits of movies are available for anyone to watch.
Repeat the above statements for music and movies.
I’m tired this morning.
Got the lurgy today, will do a Covid test later, hopefully it’s just a cold.
Sorry 🙁 How many times is this for you now?
Ah bugger.
Third time
Sorry to hear that. 🙁
You’re becoming quite the hoarder, Van!
Einstein proved right again, anti matter responds to gravity the same way as matter, so you know what that means:
https://youtu.be/hU9WYqw0gLI?si=zr3uAfwbB1L3KRX1
Scientists get closer to solving mystery of antimatter https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-66890649
Anti-Matter Halflives Matter
Currently reading:
https://www.sffworld.com/2021/04/the-chimera-code-by-wayne-santos/
It’s creative and has lots of action. . . I do recommend it. . . Young me would have read this in a week and then re-read it. Old me is enjoying it, but struggling.
So some so called Star Wars fans are trying to fat shame Lars Mikkelsen in his playing the live action Thrawn.
What a bunch of losers.
Morning Pan
Yesterday was a beautiful fall day
Harry Potter actor Sir Michael Gambon dies aged 82 https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-66949848
A brief history of calculating devices:
https://t.co/ECMURb0GmP
I didn’t realize that David McCallum was Ducky on NCIS. It’s a show that Tiffany had binged so much, a few years ago, that I got to know the different characters. He was good.